RunKeeper Lands on Android

RunKeeper, coordinated nicely with the Boston Marathon, takes the starting line on Android 2.x devices today. This software is among my personal favorites as it uses a phone’s GPS to track and report on any type of mobile exercise: running, cross-country skiing and hiking, to name a few. Up to now, however, I was missing RunKeeper because it was iPhone-only and I adopted a Google Nexus One over three months ago. RunKeeper, it’s good to see you again.

This first version, free in the Android Market, offers just the basics but I’d expect to see an offering comparable to the RunKeeper Pro app in the near future. For now, expect time, distance, speed, pace, calories and map tracking with RunKeeper for Android. Of course, you can listen to music while using the app, and there are configurable voice cues for pace on the iPhone version which I hope to see added soon as well.

Since I started using the Nexus One, I had to find an alternative app for workout tracking. It’s worth a mention that SportyPal fit the bill for me these past few months. I personally prefer RunKeeper’s interface and ease of use, but SportyPal works well. I already had six months worth of workout data in RunKeeper, so I decided to stay put — manually entering workouts as a workaround. Now I can focus on actually doing my workouts, and not entering them into a phone or computer, thanks to the new RunKeeper for Android version.